Love Save the Empty
by princess-wallflower
Summary: Leo Valdez feels empty. But Willa Calder, the Apollo camper no one pays attention to, may be able to fix that. Hints of Caleo, Leo/OC if you squint. T because I'm paranoid for future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Sad boy, you stare up at the sky **  
**When no one's looking back at you. **  
**You wear your every last disguise**  
**You're flying, then you fall through. **

**(Erin McCarley, _Love Save the Empty_)**

**Love Save the Empty**

A Heroes of Olympus Fanfiction

_"Calypso!" Leo called, up to his knees in sea water as he stood on the shores of Ogygia. _

_"Calypso? It's me, Leo! I – I came back for you."_

_No reply._

_Leo waded out of the surf and on to the shore, leaving the Argo II, where it was moored a hundred yards or so away, behind. "Calypso!"_

_Leo made his way through the gardens, which were empty. "Hello?"_

_And then he saw her, sitting stone-still on a bench underneath a tree with drooping white blossoms. Her head was bowed, and she was staring at her hands. _

_Leo's heart stopped. Was she _dead_?_

_But then Calypso lifted her head and looked at him with sad eyes, and Leo felt a rush of relief pass through him. _

_Until he stopped to contemplate why she was so sad. _

_"Calypso. It's me. Leo. I came back. You remember my promise?" Leo said as gently as he could, walking over to where she was seated. _

_Calypso's hands trembled. "Leo, you have to go." she said, her voice barely audible. "Please."_

_Leo dropped to his knees next to her. "What do you mean? Is everything okay?"_

_"Go, Leo. Leave." Calypso said, tears streaming down her face. _

_"Calypso. Explain." Leo commanded, looking into her eyes. His heart was thumping wildly in his chest. "You're scaring me. Are you hurt? Is something wrong?"_

_"Why don't you understand?" Calypso whispered. "I'm immortal. You're not. You'll grow old and die, and I'll remain young forever. How am I supposed to live with that?"_

_"Bu-but... I love you." Leo stuttered, clutching her arm. "You have to realize that. I'm perfectly happy to grow old without you, as long as we can be together."_

_"But I'm _not_!" Calypso shouted. "I'm not happy with that! You think I could bear to watch you grow older and older and then DIE? Leave, Leo Valdez. We can never be together. Just go."_

_Calypso turned her head away, tears glistening in her eyes. Leo drew in a sharp breath. "I came back for you, and this is how you repay me?" Leo asked in a broken voice, eyes stinging and throat aching. _

_Calypso said nothing._

_"Fine." Leo said bitterly. "Okay, fine. I wish I could tell you I love you, but that sentiment was basically just ripped to pieces. Bye."_

_He turned and stormed away without looking back._

* * *

In those months after the war with Gaea, Leo had few visitors to Bunker 9.

Everyone knew Leo was in shock and denial over Calypso's rejection - he did lock himself in Bunker 9 for weeks, after all - so no one really wanted to approach him, in fear of hurting his feelings.

Except for the Seven.

Jason was the first one to visit after those first two weeks of solitude. He didn't say much, but he brought food, and it was nice for Leo to interact with someone after those lonely, miserable weeks.

Next came Piper. She didn't bring gifts, which was fine, but she gave Leo countless hugs and comforting words. For once, Leo didn't mind Piper putting a little charmspeak into her words to soothe him. It made everything so much easier.

Frank visited next, which came as a bit of a surprise. The big guy had never really liked Leo until now, but he was a lot of fun to talk to, and Leo found himself laughing for the first time in - well, in a long time.

Hazel and Annabeth visited together, both with hugs and soothing words and funny stories about Frank's clumsiness and Percy's thickheadedness.

Percy visited less frequently, but he was the most painful one to talk to. Not because Leo didn't like him - Percy and Leo had become really good friends - but because they had both known Calypso. They talked about her sometimes, with Percy asking questions about what she wore or what Ogygia was like, and Leo would reply with as much humor as possible, even though his heart ached.

Percy understood.

But his last and most frequent visitor was who really surprised him.

* * *

Leo was tinkering - again. He was trying to replicate an Archimedes sphere, but so far, he was failing with a capital F. Not failing, but Failing.

For some reason, this thought made Leo snicker, and pretty soon he was whistling to himself as he fiddled with a corroded wire. He was whistling so loud that he almost didn't hear the knock on Bunker 9's formiddable door.

Almost.

"Come in!" Leo called, still focused on the corroded wire. Holy Hephaestus, this was going to be tough to replace.

The door slid open - Leo fixed it ages ago so that other people could enter from the outside (but only if he was inside) - and Leo looked up.

At first Leo thought the girl was Annabeth - after all, she was blonde - but this girl was much too short to be Annabeth. She was probably even shorter than Leo.

And Leo had no idea who she was.

"Sorry - do I know you?" Leo asked, a little irritated. The girl lifted her head and Leo started - she was one of the Apollo campers. What was she doing here?

"Probably not," the girl said, apologetically. "I'm Willa Calder, Apollo Cabin. Sorry to bother you."

Leo raised an eyebrow, confused. "Okay. Well, I'm Leo Valdez, Hephaestus. What are you doing here?"

She was about twenty feet away, but Leo could still see the blush spreading across her face. "We had tacos for dinner tonight. And I couldn't help but notice how psyched you usually are when that's on the dinner menu. So... I thought I would bring you some."

Leo grinned. "You are officially my favorite person. Why hasn't anybody else brought me tacos?"

Willa laughed and pulled a takeaway box out from the duffel bag slung over her shoulder. "I don't think I can bring these up to you, so you should probably come down."

Leo suddenly realized he was sitting on one of the ceiling rafters and cursed, making Willa laugh again. He liked her laugh, Leo decided.

"I'll be down in a second." Leo said, scooting down the wooden beam and leaping down, clutching the sphere parts. To his utter surprise, he landed the ten-foot jump on his feet, and when he looked up, Willa's eyebrows were raised in admiration.

"Wow. That was pretty impressive, for a son of Hephaestus." she said, walking over and handing him the box of tacos.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Leo huffed, pretending to be angry as he snatched the box away from her and opened it greedily. "Ooh, carnitas."

Willa just shook her head, trying not to smile. "You're _welcome_."

Leo looked up at her in surprise. "Oh, you're still here?" he mumbled through a mouthful of corn shell and spicy pork. "Thanks for the food."

Willa smirked. "No problem. I'll be going, then."

She was opening the door when Leo called out, "Hey - Willa?"

Willa turned her head, looking at Leo with a hopeful expression. She was pretty, Leo realized with a jolt. But he certainly wasn't going to tell her that, not after Calypso stomped on his heart and left him empty.

"Bring more food tomorrow?" he half-begged half-demanded, and with a roll of her ice blue eyes, Willa was gone.

**a/n: so? What do you think? I'm thinking this will be simply a friendship fic, but please review and tell me if you think there should be something more!**

**also - please don't hate me for getting rid of Caleo. I ship them just as much as you do, I promise, but I've never really understood how that relationship would work, especially since Calypso is immortal. **

**I feed off of reviews - don't let me go hungry!**

**xoxo Laurel**


	2. Chapter 2

Leo woke up slumped over his worktable with a lug wrench pressing into his cheek.

It took him a minute to realize he was in Bunker 9 - he must have fallen asleep while working. "Ah, hell." Leo cursed, sitting up and unsticking the wrench from his face. He stretched and looked around him, noticing that the taco box from the night before was sitting on the ground at his feet. Funny, he'd almost thought that Willa was just a dream.

Willa.

Leo had never really noticed her before. She was already at camp when he, Jason and Piper arrived for the first time, but he didn't know her name and he was too busy to find out, what with the quest and all. And then he was building the Argo II. And then there was the war.

And then there was Calypso.

"Dammit!" Leo growled. He hated waking up to thoughts of _her_. They were too painful in the morning, when he was still vulnerable from sleep. He instead filled his thoughts with corroded wires and lug wrenches, only half-succeeding. The ever present reminder that Calypso rejected him still nagged away in his mind.

Leo kicked at an empty can of oil and watched with satisfaction as it flew across the room and hit the wall with a clatter. "Ha." Leo said to no one in particular, then jumped.

Someone was knocking at the door.

"That you, Willa?" he called. "Didja bring me any more - oh. Hi, Piper."

Leo couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed as Piper poked her head into the Bunker. "Willa? You mean that Apollo girl?" she asked, stepping inside and giving Leo a hug.

"Yeah. She brought me tacos last night." Leo said, patting Piper awkwardly on the back. This was unusual for Piper - she wasn't really the huggy type. "What's wrong?"

Piper widened her eyes. "Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. It's just, um... well, Jason and Percy and Annabeth and I are all going to take Hazel and Frank to Montauk for the two-year anniversary of when they started dating. It was Percy's idea. And we wanted you to come, too, but Chiron said that he wanted you to stay here. He said he thought you needed to be by yourself a little while longer. If you wanted we could probably sneak you out of camp, but -"

"Piper." Leo said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder and trying not to feel horribly dejected. "It's fine. Enjoy yourselves, and tell the lovebirds I said congrats. I'm just going to stay here and work on a few projects."

Piper's eyes were filled with regret. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Leo said, voice cracking a little. "Besides, you'll probably want to do couple-y stuff and I'll just be the seventh wheel."

"Oh, Leo." Piper said tearfully, pulling him into another hug. "I'm so so so so sorry."

Leo shoved her away good-naturedly. "Ah, get out of here." he choked out, managing to sound cheerful.

Piper gave him one last regretful smile before slipping out the door. As soon as the heavy rock slid back into place, Leo slumped to the floor and put his head in his hands.

* * *

Willa stood outside of Bunker 9. In her hands was a box of barbeque and hush puppies - god, the crap the other campers had given her about that. Especially _from_ Ally Pierce, Apollo Cabin's very own Regina George.

"You know what they say, don't you, Willa?" Ally had inquired nastily at lunch after Willa had filled a styrofoam box with barbeque leftovers. "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Or are you using some _other_ way to get to Leo and you're just pigging out on the food when no one can see?"

"Back off, Ally." had been Willa's oh so witty reply - but she hadn't had time to come up with anything better. "I'm just trying to help a friend out."

Ally had widened her eyes innocently. "Help him? With _what_? Unzipping his pants?"

Willa stood up abrubtly. "You're such a _bitch_. He's just been through a hell of a war, and probably hasn't eaten in days. He's alone and depressed, and you're giving me shit about trying to help him get through one of the worst times of his life? Classy, Ally, _real_ classy."

Ally had been speechless, something Willa had been proud of at the time. But now, as she stood outside the Bunker, she just felt embarrassed. She had just called one of the most influential people in her cabin a bitch in front of the whole camp. And what if Leo found out? She didn't want him thinking that she was trying to get him to fall for her. She wasn't even _attracted_ to him.

Well, maybe just a little.

Shaking all thoughts of obnoxious bitches and tiny crushes out of her head, Willa raised her hand and knocked on Bunker 9's door.

"Come in!" Leo called, and the heavy rock doorway slid open smoothly. "Oh, hi, Willa."

"Hi." Willa said, stepping into the warmly lit bunker. Leo was sitting cross-legged on the floor. "Do you realize that you have wire in your hair?" Willa teased, grinning at the copper wires entangled in Leo's curly brown hair.

Leo's hand flew to his hair. "Oh. Uh - yeah, didn't you know it's a fashion statement? All the Aprhodite kids are doing it."

Willa laughed. "I guess I didn't recieve the memo."

"Geez, Willa, get with the program." Leo said, grinning. "So. Did you bring me-"

"Food? Yes." Willa interrupted with a smile, showing him the styrofoam box she had been hiding behind her back. "Barbeque and hush puppies."

"Yes!" Leo crowed, standing up abruptly and rushing over to where she stood. He grabbed the box, grining wildly at her. "You're awesome."

"I know." Willa replied, smirking, then bounded up a flight of stairs to a balcony reaching over the bottom floor of the Bunker. "This place is awesome."

"I know." Leo said, smirking just as much as Willa.

Willa laughed, climing up onto the balcony railing and swinging her feet.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, with Leo working on his corroded sphere and eating, and Willa looking around in awe at her surroundings. Bunker 9 really was amazing.

"Anything I can do to help?" Willa asked after a while.

Leo looked up from his tinkering and thought for a second. "Well, you could wrap the bronze coils-" he began, then abruptly stopped as a lump grew in his throat. He turned away. "On second thought, maybe I'll do that myself."

There was a barely audible thump as Willa hopped down off the railing to stand next to him, and suddenly she was taking the bronze wire from his hands gently. Her eyes were sympathetic and her smile was warm, and Leo felt a little better. "Someday," she said, putting her free hand on his arm, "You'll have to tell me why you get so sad when you talk about things like bronze coils. Okay?"

"Okay. Sure. Yeah." Leo said, looking away.

* * *

**a/n: Leo, my poor baby.**

**sorry for sort of switching POVs on you. it might be a bit confusing, but hopefully you get it.**

**thanks so much for all the positive reviews, everyone! keep 'em coming. PLEASE.**

**also, please don't favorite without reviewing. i'd really like to know what EVERYONE thinks!**


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